Conviction confirmed on appeal, in Catania, for the murder of Ylenia Bonavera. The second instance judges inflicted 18 years of imprisonment and 3 years of security measures on the 36-year-old former friend Daniela Nicotra. The 26-year-old from Messina died in hospital in Catania in December 2020due to the serious consequences of a violent argument she had with her ex-friend, who inflicted a stab wound on her neck, which later proved fatal.
In the first instance, the preliminary hearing judge had inflicted eighteen years of imprisonment on Nicotra, also deciding on compensation for damages to her mother and 30 thousand euros in compensation, plus 3 years of security measures. Nicotra was assisted by the lawyer Giovanni Chiara while Ylenia’s father and brothers, who were civil parties in the proceedings, were represented by the lawyer Rosy Spitaleand the mother was assisted by the lawyer Vittoria Santoro.
On 9 December 2020, Bonavera was transported to the emergency room of the Garibaldi hospital in Catania by an acquaintance, with heavy bleeding, in a clear state of psychophysical alteration and in serious danger of her life.. Two days later his heart stopped beating during the frenetic resuscitation maneuvers. The attack on the street in the San Cristoforo district was fatal, where the police found clear traces of blood and a lock of fake hair, attributable to a previous argument. The investigators, after listening to some witnesses and viewing some videos, unequivocally ascertained that Nicotra had struck Ylenia with a knife at the height of an argument. The woman of Catania origins then confessed to her crime at the police station.
In 2017, poor Ylenia was the protagonist of a news case in Messina that had national resonance. In the Bordonaro district, where she lived, she was attacked on the landing of her house by her ex, who doused her with petrol and attempted to set her on fire, subsequently suffering burns in various parts of her body. It was 25-year-old Alessio Mantineo, later sentenced to 10 years in prison on appeal. Despite everything, during the police investigations, Bonavera changed the initial version of the facts provided to the investigators, saying that she had not recognized the attacker, and then during the trial she took his defense, considering that of her ex as a sort of “proof of ‘Love”.